Monkey See..Monkey Do
By Don Lidster, DNL Farms Ltd.
How many times have you witnessed job performance in your barn and wondered "where did they get the idea to do it that way?" I know we often asked that question. Chances are your staff members think they are performing the task exactly as taught by you or a supervisor. Then why is it not being done correctly?
The first answer comes from the old child's party game "telephone"; the game where everyone sits in a circle and whispers a message that has been whispered to them. Once the message has made the full circle it is usually nowhere close to the original message. Bottom line: try to get one message from one source out to all staff in a format that they understand.
OK, you did that. You personally trained the trainer to do things your way. That only works as long as the trainer continues to believe that your way is the right way and he or she does an excellent job of training new hires.
Another option: You write down formal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) which spell out exactly how you want a given task to be done. You may even add some diagrams to make the description even clearer. How can that go wrong?
-The trainee can not read.
-The trainee can read but has limited understanding abilities.
-The trainee can read and understand but the way you have explained the procedure in the SOP leads them to an outcome that you hadn't intended.
Now what? If your trainee cannot read or understand, go to the bottom of this article. Assuming our trainees can read and understand, we can design an exam to be written after they read your SOP. Assuming they do not freeze up at the idea of writing an exam your chances are pretty good you will be able to accurately check the trainees’ level of understanding. Now that we have established they have the knowledge, we only have to check that the trainee can perform the task as it has been described in the SOP.
But why do we need all this stuff? You say "I never read SOPs, had training sessions, or was given special time to learn the skills I have about pigs. All I did was tag along behind Dad or the hired man until one day it was my turn to do the job." Right you are, but you were not on the payroll; you were the extra staff (that no one can afford now). You learned to do by watching until it was your turn.
Video technology now allows trainees to learn as you did, by watching you or the "professional" in your barn do the task the way you want it done. On line technology allows exams/quizzes to be administered and corrected remotely with the results delivered to the trainee and trainer on request. Technology can't undo the learning that goes on when new hires see skills not being performed as you intended. Technology can reduce the trainer's time in teaching the knowledge portion of a skill but the trainer still has to observe the skill being performed correctly and say, "Yes, you have done that well."
DNL Farms Ltd. is a consulting company from White Fox Saskatchewan that focuses on staff training. After completing their degrees in Agriculture, brief careers in industry and 20 years in the pig business, the principals, Don & Nancy Lidster have produced numerous training videos for their clientele as well as done extensive work with low stress pig handling. They can be contacted at dnlfarms@xplornet.com or (306) 276-5761.
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